


The Kingdom Of Lust

by Cbarton664



Category: K-pop, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Ballet, Blow Jobs, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Gay Male Character, Gay Sex, Loss of Virginity, Love Triangles, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Male Protagonist, Multi, Oral Sex, Other, Paddling, Prince Jeon Jungkook, Princes & Princesses, Public Humiliation, Sexual Fantasy, Sexual Slavery, Spanking, male reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:49:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25441174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cbarton664/pseuds/Cbarton664
Summary: A few weeks after his eighteenth birthday, Y/N prince and heir to the throne of Cordiven , is called for service in the Kingdom of Asterol . However he soon learns that the "service" is in fact, the complete and total enslavement to the nobles and people of the court.  Asterol Is a kingdom which specialises in slave culture and is very proud of it. Princes and princesses from surrounding kingdoms are sent as tributes, to spend five years as both property and playthings to the people of the court.  They must obey practically all residents to the kingdom, accepting  being publicly displayed and humiliated and being forced to have sex with nobles. Y/N is given to the kingdom's prince, Jungkook, as his first male slave. Jungkook is not very keen on having a male slave, especially not Y/N, and much more enjoys torturing and teasing him than having sex with him. But Jungkook is nothing compared to his calculated and cunning mother, Queen regent, Hayoon. Through the course of the story Y/N will have to make a choice whither or not he wants to submit and be engulfed in this world of both pleasure and pain or to fight and rebel.
Relationships: Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V, Jeon Jungkook/Park Jimin, Jeon Jungkook/Reader, Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Seokjin | Jin, Kim Taehyung | V/Reader, Park Jimin (BTS)/Reader
Kudos: 9





	1. An Awkward Prince

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all, I originally posted this on Wattpad and thought that the type of fanfic I’m trying to create is maybe better suited to a platform like this instead, as my writing can be very lengthy and in depth. As stated on Wattpad this is my first story so, I would appreciate it, if you could go a bit easy on me, because I don’t really know what I’m doing. But simply put, there just needs to be more male reader fanfics and I want to contribute to that, so that was the primary reason for creating this fic. Even though I often seem to disappear for a while in between each chapter, I’ll never fully give up on this fic, because I know exactly how annoying that can be.

It was a damp and misty autumn morning for the kingdom of Cordiven, the grass within in the castle gardens had been powdered with light frost and the cobbled stone in the courtyard was wet and damp as always. Cordiven was a kingdom that resides in the northern hemisphere of this great country, it is one of many kingdoms spread throughout the land. Known for its vast green fields and constant housing of rain, it was one of the smaller kingdoms, not having very much land to call its own. It was also cut off from the rest of the world due to the many hills and mountains that surrounded it, which is also the reason why it attracted so much dull, grey weather. Though it was small, it's people were very proud to call it their own, however many youths found the kingdom to be too enclosed in its own world, being too ignorant to comprehend different cultures and values, which led to many, venturing out of the borders of the kingdom. Though there was one particular youth who was well aware of his lands ironbound ethics and minds, but wasn't willing to venture out, for both his fear and duty bound him to stay. 

"Your highness, you must wake up now" said a shrill, haughty voice from Y/N's right, then immediately he felt a stinging white light on his eyes as the bedroom curtains were open. "Come on now boy, you must get up, I will not allow you to waste another day sleeping in." Said Stephan. Stephan was the royal chamberlain of the castle, he was worrisome and easily stressed, so he liked to be as punctual and organised as humanly possible, suppose this is why he was given the job after all. The sheets were then ripped off Y/N swiftly, and rather aggressively, "Get up!" Stephan said in the harshest and most irritating voice he could make. "Alright, alright" Y/N tiredly said, after which he let out a great yawn, he pushed his upper body up then swung his feet to the side of the bed, that still even after all this time of growing, dangled above the ground. He then groggily stood up and let his two grooms, who were meekly waiting, attend him. He stretched out both of his arms so that they could disrobe him, while Stephan had picked out his usual attire for a day of practical nothingness, a white laced cotton shirt, and plain navy trousers, along with his old tattered brown boots. "Honestly Y/N you think now being a year older you would have requested for clothes that better suited your status as heir" Stephan said through a heavy sigh. "With all do respect Stephan, I would rather not come across as a spoiled nobleman who advertises their high rank through expensive clothes and jewellery" Y/N replied in the same dry tone. The grooms made sure to work hastily, knowing that Y/N did not like to be exposed in front of other people very much, even though he was securely wearing braies under his night gown.

Y/N was quite slim and of a rather petite build for a male, his forearms were almost entirely the same width across, barely getting wider when going further up his arm. His height was something he was also quite reserved about, his youngest brother ,who was all of five years younger than him, was by now practically the same height. Once he was fully clothed and laced up, he went to the wood carved wardrobe and took out his beloved blue cloak, from behind the door, which hung on a nailed hook. Once he had it in his hands, and in eyeshot of Stephan, he was given a satirical eye roll that said "No, not that old thing again". He just simply ignored it, he was not really in the mood to play off of Stephan's many quips and pleasantries, he threw the cloak over his shoulders and began to tie the string in place. "Your father has requested to see you for breakfast", Y/N felt a tight strain on both his jaw and back muscles at those words. He let out what seemed to be a hybrid of a sigh and a growl, while still looking down at the strings he was securing,"of course he does" he said, voice laced with venom and bitterness. Once he had secured the cloak, Stephan had handed one of the grooms a comb from the vanity. The groom began to hastily brush, the bristles getting stuck a few times due to Y/N's thick hair, he remembers how his mother would often remark on how it was like straw, for how coarse and tough it was. 

His hair had been newly cut for his birthday, It had grown quite a bit in these last few weeks, the sides and the back felt more filled out than compared to how shaven and itchy he felt on the actual day, he recounted how out of his element he felt, being around so many people of " his own rank" as his father would say . After his hair was set into place he was permitted to leave by Stephan. As Y/N was exiting his chambers, he noticed that the castle staff were beginning to take the decorations down, in celebration of his eighteenth birthday. They had been up for a good two weeks, since his birthday party, the columns that separated the arches which overlooked the castle gardens, were decorated with spiralling blue and white ribbon. Flowers and garlands lined the high stone walls of the castle, the two most prominent of which were asters and Myosotis, his birth flowers, he remembers the great relief he felt once he had asked his mother the colour of his birth flower, with which she lightly responded with blue, as any other colour just wouldn't do. 

In his youth, Y/N was very particular about any kind of colour that would be assigned to him or would represent him in any way, he would wine on the edge of a tantrum if he was to wear any clothing outside of the blue spectrum. When the kingdom toke part in the National games and tournaments, he would always want the blue feathered arrow, the blue saddled horse. Till this day his love for the colour has seized to die, Y/N greeted the castle staff as we walked down the halls. As he was beginning to approach the grand foyer stair case, he caught a glimpse of the jolly servant Johanna, climbing down from a latter with a punch of myosotis in her arms. "Good morning Johanna" Y/N said lightly, "Oh, hello Y/N, I see Stephan has gotten you up bright and early", Johanna was of a stocky build, with broad shoulders and arms, her stringy brown hair as usually buried below her white linen coif.

Johanna was the servant that was usually called for securing and placing rather heavy decorations and ornaments on the high ceilings of the castle, as well as partly helping out in the stables from time to time. Y/N remembers, while on his way to visit Taehyung, Johanna walking up the path from the stables to the castle, with two whole bails of hay sitting on each of her shoulders, as if it was nothing. "Even she is stronger than you", he recounts Neil teasingly saying, and even though he hated to admit it, Y/N did agree with him " Even Johanna is stronger than I". "The Queen has instructed us, to begin taking down you're decorations, your grace" Johanna said half in her usual hardy, jolly voice and the other in a slight fear and anxiousness. 

Thinking that it would anger Y/N seeing his decorations be taken down without his knowledge, when Y/N had caught wind of this he immediately nipped that apprehension in the bud. "Thank goodness, if I have to see another myosotis or blue ribbon while walking through this blasted place , I think I'll through myself over the castle walls" Y/N replied dryly. Johanna chuckled "Oh your highness, your gas", " Johanna, i've known you for years you really don't need to call me that", Y/N said assuredly. "Well it's very hand not to, you are the heir after all". "yes, so everyone keeps reminding me" Y/N said inside himself, " Um, I think I might have to take my leave, dearest Johanna, father wishes to have another talk, I assume about what it truly means to be heir.....again". At once Johanna started to apologise for holding the prince here, even though it was he who had approached her.

As Y/N began his travels once more, he heard Johanna shout for his attention "Oh Y/N I had forgotten to mention, Cathrine has made some cookies for you down in the kitchens". Immediately, when the words had be processed, Y/N felt both his mouth and stomach yearn for one of Cathrine's chocolate chip cookies. "I'm sure father can wait, especially for the sake of a cookie" Y/N thought, as he began to pick up speed in his walk, to quickly approach the Grand foyer staircase. As he approached the top of the steps and began to barrel down each one, the story of the maiden who lost her glass shoe while fleeing down a similar staircase, flashed in his mind, thinking he was quite like her in this moment, though their was no handsome prince chasing after him......unfortunately. As he approached the big, lean wooden door which led down to the kitchens, he was reminded of when he tried to seek refuge in here, at his birthday party, so many people, asking so many questions, so many fake smiles being sent his way. He knew all too well that the vast majority of people were going to pass some snippy comments to each other once he was out of sight from them, Y/N had somewhat of a talent for guessing people's true thoughts and feelings. He, himself thought he was a very good judge of character, it didn't take much for him to understand the kind of person someone was, when first meeting them. He came to better understand, this once interacting with his guests that were around his own age, once he had took refuge and comfort behind the kitchen doors he over heard voices, while trying to calm himself down. "Here, did you get a glimpse of the prince, this whole thing is for" he heard a rather culchie male voice say, "more like princess, tittering across the floor like some jester belonging to the king of the Faes" came another male's voice.

" little shits" Y/N thought, silently ease dropping from behind the kitchen door. "I was trying to speak to him, but it quickly turned into a game of , guess what the stuttering prince is saying". Y/N was never good at socialism, he didn't want his associate to become bored, so he would get out as many words in one breath, as quickly as possible, this often lend to his words becoming inaudible and stuttered. That time, it was a female voice, haughty and patronising, he recognised it as the Princess Madison, from his memory, she wore her gold blonde hair in two long braids and was dressed in flowing loose lilac gown. The words cut deep and hurt, even though he knew they didn't truly know him, even though he knew they were wrong, it still hurt. Coming out of his thoughts, He opened the door and began to descend the warm, stone steps to the kitchens, the stones were often damp and warm, due to the amount of steam that was created in the area. The cooks at times, would go a little over board with the heatings of their food, he was reminded at his birthday, how the food was served to his family and guests, the steam was particularly pouring out of the meat that was served, the highlight of the feast had been roasted pork, it was delicious and succulent. It was very heavy in it's flavours and tastes, Y/N likes his food to be packed filled with different spices and seasoning, the foreign spices that were traded in from many strange lands across the sea, were among his favourite.

Catherine told him, her and the others cook took the deceased pig and stuffed it with this autumn's apples and slathered it's skin with goose fat, so it was nice and crispy when cooked, then they roasted it in the kitchen's huge old brick oven. It was just as delicious as he had imagined, as Catherine was telling him all this beforehand. The apples had given the meat a sweetness to it that made it that bit more savoury, his mother didn't like it that much, she never really did like very sweet things, though his brother and father had three helpings and where the main perpetrators of the swine's devouring. When Y/N reached the bottom of the stairwell he could smell the porridge that must have been made for breakfast, it was a rather steamy and dry, but sweet aroma, a nice thing to smell in the morning, Though Y/N didn't really like porridge that much, it reminded him too much of gruel, which he detested. When he pushed the door to the kitchens open, it seemed as though it had made time start again as it seemed everyone was frozen before the door was pushed open. No sound or noise was admitted through the heavy wood, which made it seem as though everything had come to a pause on the inside. Maybe this was mother's doing, she never really liked the castle to be very noisy and she didn't like the smells from the kitchen being spread throughout the rest of the castle, probably why the kitchen was as far away from the rest of the castle as much as possible. This castle had actually been designed and built by the will of his parents, it wasn't a great historic place, passed down through generations of his family, it was purely their's, from his memory it took around a decade to build and even then it wasn't totally finished in its interior.

Once Y/N had voyaged through the storm of undercooks bustling around and the heavy steam in the air, he caught sight of Catherine kneading bread on the great big wooden table of the kitchen, a kind of throne to the courtroom that was the kitchen. That made Catherine Queen, which has accurate being that she was the head cook of the castle, "oh Y/N!,... I mean, your grace" Catherine said, Y/N gave her a lazy smile accompanied by a breath out his nose, he didn't want to have to correct every person who called him that. "Johanna said –"l had made chocolate chip cookies for you" Catherine interrupted, voice edging on the line of snarky. "It was meant to be a surprise" Catherine growled. "I swear that girl's, mouth is always either doing one of two things; chewing on my fresh loafs of bread or spilling out secrets that aren't hers to tell", Catherine face was bleak and brooding while she spoke, "its alright, I would have found out sooner or later", "yes, but it would have been much better for me to have given them to you as a surprise " Catherine said, as her hands began to strangle the dough. Catherine had quite worn hands, made from the many years they served Y/N's family, their food. Catherine was originally a cook from Lilin, the land where his mother hailed from. Y/N's mother had offered Catherine to come with her to his father's kingdom as the castle's head chef, when the kingdom was on its first legs of being established. 

Catherine had joyously accepted, and has been cooking for Y/N's family for twelve years now. Catherine had very thick forearms, looking like a set of alabaster twin baby dolphins. She had the height of a mother bear on hind legs, and the temper of one, she's was a warlord to her undercooks, constantly firing out orders and swearing out the unfortunate cook who in anyway stepped out of place. But that in no way meant that she was not prone to tenderness, as exampled by the gift of cookies, she could be very nurturing to the three young princes, and even sometimes acted more like a great aunt or a grandmother. "Um, you did give the leftovers from the party, to the stable staff right?" Y/N questioned ,Catherine took her focus away from the dough and looked at Y/N with a blank, straight expression, "yes, this is the second time you've asked me" she said through a sigh. "I would just like to be sure" Y/N chirped, Catherine chuckled " why are you so worried, you think there going to slip something into Copper's hay". "No, they just work very hard without ever getting noticed by father" Y/N wined, Catherine's face now wore a cheeky expression, with a smirk, " This wouldn't happened to have anything to with Taehyung, would it?" Catherine playfully said. Y/N's heart began to hammer against his chest, while we felt his entire face heat up, "I- it has nothing to do with Taehyung, I just felt they deserved something" his voice bristling as he spoke, there we go again talking too quickly to understand. "(Sigh) Can't a Prince be generous to his subjects, shouldn't a future king show empathy and compassion to those who work under them, if he is to inspire loyalty and faith in his people " his voice now booming with benevolence. "Alright!, I understand, you don't need to go off on one of your princely rants" Catherine said, half annoyed, half playful.

"So where are these prized cookies anyway" Y/N said dryly, Catherine laugh, Even when completely going off of what he came here for, Y/N still remembered the cookies. "They're sitting over the-" Y/N saw Catherine's face become deadpan with a slight hint of shock, "What?" Y/N said as he turned his head in the direction Catherine was looking. Once he processed what he was looking at, he instantly got that same tense feeling in his jaw and back again, there, completely massacring the pristine basket of golden chocolate chip cookies, was his youngest brother, Neil. " You repulsive, gluttonous fat pig from hell!" Y/N spat, "What?" Neil said through a mouth packed with at least three cookies. "I'm sorry my prince but those cookies weren't meant for you" Catherine said, tone calm in an attempt to keep the peace. " is there no voice inside your head saying "hmm maybe I shouldn't eat this" Y/N rambled. "Calm down, you're always losing your temper over nothing, this kitchen isn't specifically reserved for you!" Neil argued, "that's not the point you just can't go around eating other people's cookie baskets". Neil stared at Y/N straight cookie in hand and face speared with chocolate " Do you hear how ridiculous you sound" Neil said, " Do you know how ridiculous you look, where you even aiming for your mouth, don't know how you could miss it". Neil has always had a savage's appetite, mother always commented that even the moment he was born he was hungry, he had came out sucking on his own fist, he was that much in need of food.

The kitchen had become a sort of secondary home for Niel, as Y/N can visualise the many times he's seen the back of Neil venturing down the kitchen steps, to swipe a little something from the pantry. He loved bread, he took it with most of his meals, though the heavy eating seemed to have done him more good than worse, he was by now as tall as Y/N and was now starting to inch higher than him, much to his delight. Neil was of a broad, sturdy build, it was a hereditary trait, common in all the males on his father's side, all except Y/N. Now at thirteen it was quite clear that Neil was going to have a completely different build to his elder brother's more slender and fine shape. He was going to have a warrior's body and vastly surpass his brother's height. Y/N was only aggravated and disgusted while looking at him now, there was crumps along with a cadence of other stains on his crimson doublet and the ivory hose he was wearing was tattered and worn, the material had holes and tires, made from his ruff housing with the knight's squires on the training grounds. Neil's face was triangle shaped with sharper features than Y/N, his chin was pointed and sharp, while he had thin, light eyebrows framing his face to look serious and menacing. However he inherited his mother's beautiful clear eyes, just like Y/N, bright orbs which had the power to make anyone feel safe and calm. Though all Y/N felt right now, was rage, " Your just so selfish, you don't think about anyone else's feelings but your own" Y/N shouted, " As a prince and non-heir it is not my duty to consider people's feelings, it is my duty to rule and conquer" Neil replied dryly. "As a prince it is absolutely your duty to your people that you give them empathy and protection above all, not give orders and fight in pointless wars!" Y/N retorted. " you actually think your so smart for saying that to me, stop trying to sound like mother and father!" Y/N could see Catherine on the side of his eye, now continuing kneading the dough, trying to ignore the two bickering princes and get on with her own duties, though she was still keeping an eye on them knowing that a argument between Y/N and Neil often escalated to a physical fight which she won't stand for in her kitchen, the other cooking staff were beginning to look now, putting their own conversations and gossips on halt to watch the two polar opposite princes go at it again. Y/N replied to Neil's complaint in the most patronising and monotoned voice he could muster, the thing which Neil hated most " I think many things of myself and that is not one of them".

He hooded his eyes as he spoke to really drive home how unimpressed he was by the whole thing while cocking his head to the side, he then dramatically flicked his cloak, turned on his heels and was about to walk away, he turned his head back to see his brothers reaction. Neil eyes widen and cheeks puffed out from trying to hold back a laugh with that insipid, goofy smile, then he started to laugh in the highest range he could, to sound that just bit more annoying, the sound rang through Y/N's head and bashed against his skull and eye sockets. "Hahahaha! What a fruit cake" Neil horsed through his fake laugh, mocking him, suddenly all movement and sound in the kitchen had seized, spare the boiling Potts and kettles. The under cooks had now completely stopped what they were doing, looking around for any kind of clarity to the situation, yet found none. Catherine has seized her kneading once again and and flicked her eyes between the two princes, the butterflies in her stomach had now become hard, heavy stones that weighed her down into these rather awkward seconds of complete silence, knowing what those words meant to Y/N. At first, while turning around Y/N only held shock and the steal feeling of betrayal, his own brother saying something like that to him, knowing how they made him feel. His face then instantly became creased with rage and in a matter of seconds, Y/N bolted over to Neil, grabbed him by the doublet collar and began to strike and smack at him. He didn't want to punch Neil, for it seemed no matter how angry Neil made him, he just couldn't bring himself to cause his brother any real harm.

Punching would most certainly lead to blood being spilled, if not from Y/N, then certainly Neil. The cooks acted fast in trying to pry the two boys of each other, the kitchen had become filled the low shouts of the male cooks demanding that they release each other. Accompanied by the shrieks and gasps by the female cooks, as they watched on, as they two were going at it like dogs. The two princes were no longer little children who merely lightly slapped each other and then ran off, no, they were now teenagers and now possessed a man's strength, which meant they could do serious harm to each other. Y/N had left one fight with a busted lip, and another with a yellow bruise on his shoulder. This won't be a big deal if they fought once in a blue moon, but it was starting to become everyday. It was beginning to drain all of their poor mother's energy, having to constantly hear reports from the servants, informing her on the scuffle her two sons had gotten into. It then dawned on the Queen that as Y/N and Neil got older, the more their relationship became strained, and got worse instead of better.

Eventually, the cooks were able to separate the two youths from each other, Though not without a bit of hysteria. Neil, of course, opted to use his fists as his weapons, he didn't really use anykind of levels of aggression, as Y/N did, it was either nothing or everything when it came to fighting Y/N. For even though Neil would more than likely eclipse his brother in strength, right now he was thirteen, while his brother was five years his senior. At this age, birth gaps mattered, when it came to strength, so Neil resorted in taking advantage of Y/N's regard for his well-being, as well as his hesitance to inflict any real pain. For no matter how angry Neil made Y/N, he couldn't bring himself to truly harm his younger brother. Neil would go full belt on Y/N, easily diminishing Y/N 's doubtful slaps and strikes. Neil always swung with his left arm, so this was the first thing the cooks subdued, when bringing an end to the brother's kitchen brawl. The cooks held both their arms and abdomen while dragging them apart, they began to spat insults at each other, they could no longer inflict pain by their hands, so the resorted to their words, they were alike in some ways. They kept Neil pinned to the bench, while Y/N was being brought to the parallel bench on the opposite side of the kitchen. "Y/N what has gotten into!" Catherine demanded, shocked at what the young heir has done, it was very unlike him, to instigate a fight between Neil and him, it would usually start by having to the two cross paths, in any part of the castle, Neil would always do something to bother Y/N, whither it was purposefully nudging his shoulder or making some snide comment. But this time it was Y/N decided to instigate a fight, Catherine understood Y/N as usually trying everything in his power to not fight with his brother, normally saying that such pointless and childish affairs were behind him now, and even when that wouldn't satisfy Neil and he would chase after Y/N, Y/N would do his best to run away, not square up to Neil and challenge his obnoxiousness.

Even still, he was shouting abuse just as harshly as Neil was, while sliding and kicking his booted feet against the wooded cupboard doors. "Y/N stop! That is enough" Catherine commanded, "Why are just shouting at me he's the one who started it" Y/N argued "He's always the one who starts it, but then he'll go off and complain about how mother and father bully him, once he's confronted by them" He continued. Catherine sighed, while rubbing at her forehead, eyes closed "You do realise I will have to tell your mother about this" Y/N then let out the same exasperated sigh and replied with " Yes, I know" Y/N struggling had seized now and the other cooks released him, however Neil hadn't stopped struggling, he was now spouting out rants on how he was always blamed for everything thing, and how entitled Y/N is. Y/N only stared blankly at him, realising that this was just as pointless as every other encounter with Niel, however he was still bothered that his cookies had been devoured, he looked over to the basket which now had three full ones and a half eaten one. Catherine then stepped in front of his view, and held him by the shoulders and mouthed the words "I'll make you more" while passively shaking her head side to side, with an expression that read, never-mind about it. With that Y/N then walked to the door of the kitchen, from wince he came in and turned to look at Catherine, who gave him a quick assured nod.


	2. A Very Special Brother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention in the previous chapter that this story is heavily inspired by Anne Rice's Beauty trilogy and C.S. Pacat's Captive Prince trilogy. I liked those stories so much that my Kpop trash heart couldn’t help but to imagine what it would be like if kpop idols where in that kind of world. Also, like I mentioned in the Wattpad posts, I do have a big affinity/fetish for medieval/fairy tale settings. Some chapters from Wattpad will also be combined into one, to save on useless chapters posts and also because this is a bigger layout than Wattpad.

Y/N opened the great wooded door and began to ascend the stairs, his footsteps faintly echoed when hitting the cold stone of the steps, it was a somewhat nice calming sound, in contrast to all the noise that just occurred in the kitchen. It made Y/N start to drift into the far depths of his mind, "Fruit cake" he repeated in his head, that was the name the little shits from behind the door gave him as well. " Jack that's a bit much" he heard Madison say, "What!, he is though, did you not see the way he danced". Jack, he recognised who it was now, he was Lord Darius's youngest son, Lord Darius was a nobleman who owned a brave patch of land in the kingdom, he owned many fields and crops, used for distribution throughout the kingdom. Though the man was rich, he was not very well respected, at least not by Y/N's father or his court, he had heard a few times, his father complain about the man's ignorance and incompetence, traits clearly inherited to his son. Of course jack wasn't the only cruel one, he had been getting strange vibes from a few people that night, Y/N knowing what they were thinking, "What kind of heir is this" they probably thought, "This is Patrick's first born?,his heir?" Y/N was not like the rest of his family at least not on his father's side. They were warriors, leaders and great tacticians, all things Y/N was lacking, the men in his father's family were all tall and athletic, being great sportsmen and knights as well as possessing great charisma. The vast majority of them could exchange pleasantries with nearly anyone, yet another area Y/N severely lacked. He assumed that he was significantly smaller than the rest, due to his childhood abstinence for wanting to stay indoors rather than playing out in the sun, which would have helped him to sprout like some sort of plant . He also had a bad habit of sitting or leaning on his legs, which probably blocked proper bone development. 

Yes, he must have stunted his growth, he was likely supposed to be much taller than this, by now at eighteen he should have caught up to his father and yet he was still having to look up at him. Despite this, Y/N was still highly skilled, like the rest of his family, perhaps not in more brutal activities like melee or jousting, but he was was very proficient in the arts, from no age he had shown a keen understanding in painting, singing and dancing. He remembered his father commenting, when he found Y/N painting in the castle parlour, how he couldn't understand where Y/N had gotten his blessed hands from, the king had now examples in life to show that he or his wife were in any way great artists. Y/N also found great thrill in dancing, he recounts being enchanted by the dancers that performed during feasts, held at the castle, how the women's skirts twirled and spun while doing such intense, yet graceful moves like pirouettes or fouettés. He begged his mother to let him be taught how to do such things, much to the discernment of his father, but his mother went along with it anyway, using the excuse " He needs some kind of physical exercise" when trying to convince her husband to get him him a dance tutor. It had worked, Y/N then started to see a tutor every week for two classes each, since he was six. Dancing to him made feel like he was flying, the high he would get from jumping and spinning, was incomparable to anything else in this world. He felt invincible, like nothing or no one could hurt or stop him. This is how a prince should feel all the time, and yet it was only in the arts he felt this way.

" I would have made a very good princess", he dryly thought as he once again approached that fateful wooden door to the grand foyer, perhaps he wasn't meant for this role. An heir to the throne, he certainly didn't have the personality for it, maybe he was supposed to be some lonely merchant, living everyday the same mundane way. As he turned the cold steely door handle open, he caught sight of the new maid, Brietta taking his brother Roman to the dining hall. There is always someone with Roman, mother doesn't trust him wondering the castle on his own, this was more apparent whenever he was younger. Roman was the second child of the King and Queen, he was .... Well to put it bluntly, different than his brothers. He had a flattened nose and face, with upward slanting eyes and a protruding large tongue peeking out of his lips. He couldn't really talk and acted completely on impulse, he essentially had the mind of a toddler, despite being fifteen. No one could really pin down what exactly Roman was, he would have probably been labelled as the village fool, if he had been born to a peasant family, or perhaps sadly, even abandoned. That was a thought Y/N didn't really want to picture for his brother, it could bring him to tears sometimes if he thought too long about the life Roman would have, had he not had the good graces of being born into royalty. He has been called dumb or lame, none of which his parents approved of, but he has been called worse. "Monster" was one Y/N had heard in passing, while walking through a big crowd at his father's birthday feast, Y/N was quite young then, so he immediately ran to his father and told him. This then collimated in a very aggressive scene with his father yelling and raging at the guests, while also embarrassing his mother. Y/N couldn't help but feel partly responsible for the whole incident, however he was only eleven at the time, and he kind of wanted his father to shout at however muttered that disgusting word. Y/N recently had come to the conclusion, that nobody knows what he and his family have been through with Roman, except them. No amount of servants or doctors, or ignorant party quests would be able to understand the effect Roman's state has had on the royal family. The Queen has had to listen to countless visiting noblewomen say, that perhaps her child was damned by god, for her sins, that god was punishing his parents, seeing it as a sign that they shouldn't be the acting royalty. People talk, much more than they should, and even sometimes Y/N thought it would be better to take a heated knife, to some of the servants tongues around here.

He put on a pleasant smile as Brietta caught notice of him while slowly descending the stairs, while holding Roman's hand, Roman must have just gotten up, he seem to be still in a daze. " Good morning Brietta" Y/N pleasantly said. "Good morning Y/N"Brietta said, completely oblivious to the fact that she didn't use any honourifics when addressing him, no " Your grace" or " Your highness" to be heard which made him feel gloriously humble. Brietta was a hired maid, brought to the castle, she had previously worked as a career for the sick in the village, she was quite young, probably being in her mid twenties. She still had a lot of her life to life, and yet she was choosing to spend it looking after Roman, and taking care of Roman was no easy task. Her auburn hair was tied in a thick braid, hitting the small of her back, her hazel eyes also held no feeling of stress or pressure behind them, which shocked Y/N even further as he knew well that Roman wasn't a morning person, and it would have been a real challenge to get him out of bed. When Roman didn't want to do something, that was just it, due his state there was no convincing or use of threats that could be utilised to try and get him to do something. Roman was dressed in similar clothes to Y/N; boots, trousers and a cloak, though he was wearing a very worn, emerald doublet under it. Roman was currently starring into space, and moaning, while holding Brietta's right hand, he always moan like that when he went into his mind, Y/N guessed Roman was like him in that respect, daydreaming, a crime often committed by Y/N, and yet another thing the king wanted him to brush up on.

"I was just about to take Roman, to the dining hall for breakfast, will you be joining us?" Brietta chirped. "Unfortunately, yes" Y/N commented, while beginning to run his hand through Roman's thin hair, Roman was the smallest out of the three princes, he was short and stocky, though very strong, he would make a very good knight, had he been more mentally stable. There was an awkward silence starting to creep into the atmosphere as Y/N stood there, with Brietta and Roman at the bottom of the stair way. To try and diminish it Y/N tried to keep a conversation going " Um, so how are finding everything now?" Y/N questioned. Brietta was a replacement to the previous maid that looked after Roman, who had now retired and returned to the village. Yvonne, was her name, Y/N remembers her having a very high cackling laugh, and droopy eyes, which made it seem like she was always sleepy. He didn't talk to her that much, she was mainly with Roman when he needed to be tutored or there was no one else to look after him. She wasn't particularly nurturing or gentle like how Y/N noticed Brietta was, maybe that why she was brought here. It was clear that mother wanted someone to now be a full time career for Roman, as he was starting to grow up fast, and they needed someone young and firm to rein him in, not some laid-back, and all honesty, lazy maid, who just sat with Roman throughout most of the day.


	3. The Birthday party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A warning before you read, this is an extremely long chapter, on Wattpad had to break it up into three different chapters, so to not bore people, but on ao3 it seems more suitable to add lengthy chapters.

"I was just about to take Roman, to the dining hall for breakfast, will you be joining us?" Brietta chirped. "Unfortunately, yes" Y/N commented, while beginning to run his hand through Roman's thin hair, Roman was the smallest out of the three princes, he was short and stocky, though very strong, he would make a very good knight, had he been more mentally stable. There was an awkward silence starting to creep into the atmosphere as Y/N stood there, with Brietta and Roman at the bottom of the stair way. To try and diminish it Y/N tried to keep a conversation going " um, so how are finding everything now" Y/N questioned. Brietta was a replacement to the previous maid that looked after Roman, who had now retired and returned to the village. Yvonne, was her name, Y/N remembers her having a very high cackling laugh, and droopy eyes, which made it seem like she was always sleepy. He didn't talk to her that much, she was mainly with Roman when he needed to be tutored or there was no one else to look after him. She wasn't particularly nurturing or gentle like how Y/N noticed Brietta was, maybe that why she was brought here. It was clear that mother wanted someone to now be a full time career for Roman, as he was starting to grow up fast, and they needed someone young and firm to rein him in, not some laid-back, and all honesty, lazy maid, who just sat with Roman throughout most of the day.

"Oh, this might seem a little late, but I didn't get a chance to tell you that your dancing was absolutely enchanting at the party" Brietta mentioned. Y/N let out a short exasperated laugh before replying with "thank you" through a breath. The three of them were now walking to towards the great oak doors to the dining hall, framed by a pointed arch doorway, which almost went right up to the great high ceiling of the palace. This is were everyone dined the night of his party, the two elongated, grand tables held copious amounts of foods from various regions and categories, roasted chicken and stew, freshly picked fruit from Cordiven's fertile orchards and fields, sweet sugared grapes, juicy green pears and rosy apples, sat in glorious golden plates for guests to pick and choose at their pleasure. Y/N remembers how exquisitely the entirety of the catering had been laid out by the kitchen staff, the deserts looked just as beautiful, as they tasted. Especially the crowning jewel of the entire feast, Y/N's birthday cake, delectable layers of jam and buttercream, built together with glorious sponge cake, Catherine really went all out for this occasion. No doubt this was at his father's request, father really wanted this birthday to mean something, Y/N was coming of age after all, he was an adult now, and this was a chance for his subjects to get a glimpse at their future King. Both his father and mother had said he needed to be confident and proud while at the party, he needed to assure the people that he was more than capable of taking the throne, watching over the well being of Cordiven and it's people. His parents reminded him to be talkative, when people approached, opposed the usual awkward interaction he would have with various people of the court. 

After the feast the guests were then invited into the ballroom, to gaze upon the many entertainers the king organised, to perform many tricks of mystery and the unknown, jesters were providing comedy to lighten the mood for everyone, to somewhat break the ice for all the anxious youths attending, and then finishing with grand ballroom dancing for all the quests to join in. The Queen had made sure the palace musicians were in top form, once the time came to provide guests with music, the Queen Grace loved music, she could often be heard humming while helping the maids with the domestic work in the castle. She also very much like to dance, so it wasn't as if Y/N got his talent from nowhere, put his need for it, far acceded his mother, who only ever really sang and danced sporadically and in her own leisure. The hard marble floor of the ballroom had been newly polished and looked somewhat like a steady cream sea or river , for how clear the reflection of all things above it looked on the ground. The floor was painted and framed with swirling floral patterns of violets and Lily's, further enhancing the ballroom's grandiose and imperial beauty. The brown panelled walls were divided by thick white columns supporting the ceiling and floor together. From the ceiling hung a large crystal chandelier, which like Catherine, was also from the Lilin, taken as a gift, from the Queen's parents, Y/N's grandparents, Patricia and Dominic, Lord and lady of Lilin.

The night had continued on with Y/N forever remaining anxious and inept in conversing with his guests, talking wasn't all bad and not all of the guests were ignorant, load mouth bulls, or snobby, pretentious twits. There were lots of very nice, funny people in attendance, like Duke Frederick and Duchess Marie from Olin, an elderly couple, jolly and happy – go - lucky in disposition, and hardy and tough in build. When Y/N was walking around aimlessly on the ballroom floor, the duchess had called him over to their table, while waving her hand to an empty chair. Without a second thought Y/N had hastily walked over to the pair, not wanting to keep them waiting, both of their faces held a warm smile when he approached, when Y/N sat down, he saw the duchess's face become more keen and eager, as her smile became bigger, showing more of her teeth. "Hello there son" her sounded thin and shrill, but held a faint ruff ness when she spoke with such enthusiasm. "H- Hello there Sir, Madam" Y/N said, voice honeyed and frail, wondering if he had addressed them correctly. "We wanted to congratulate you on turning eighteen, ma boy" the duke said, arm slung over the back of his wife's chair, Y/ N faked smiled and said "Thank you, sir", at the time he didn't know whither or not they were being sincere or if they where trying to present a good image to their future king. "So.... How do you feel, it's not everyday that a prince turns eighteen" the duchess said, voice sounding just as energised as before. ' um... I.... well", Y/N suddenly felt the wizened, cold hand of the duchess on his own, "oh, I know it must all feel very daunting and new to you, becoming an adult", this time her voice held sympathy and tenderness, with her eyebrows knitted together in sadness. "Oh no it's fine, it's just, in truth I really don't feel any different than when I was seventeen". "No it never really does" the Duke said " But enjoy it now" the Duke added, " Because one day you'll blink and you'll be sixty years old, with sagging flesh and hair growing out the strangest of places" Duke spoke through a giggle, which in turn made Y/N laugh, genuinely. "Frederick!" the duchess snapped while whacking the back of her hand to his shoulder.

This made Y/N only laugh more, " you look lovely by the way dear" Marie remarked, "Thank you, I actually do like it." Y/N said. Y/ N was wearing a sky blue doublet, laced up with golden string, and encrusted with sapphires throughout, it was custom made and fitted just for him. He remembers that the royal tailor needed to get his measurements as accurately as possible , from his head to his toes, mother wanted him to look his very best, she always wanted her children to be well dressed, especially on special occasions like this one. For his bottom half he was wearing a simple pair of white hose, which were much more tightly fitted than Y/N was comfortable with, they very clearly revealed the shape of his thighs, his shins and even some of his buttocks, he prayed that the doublet was long enough to keep him somewhat modest looking. While on his head was his golden crown, also decorated with sapphires, as well as diamonds and pearls, mother clearly wanted everything to correlate, while she was constructing the outfit with the royal tailor.For footwear he wore his pointe shoes ,white like the hoses, they were made of a soft, smooth satin and held thin flexible leather soles. 

The box at the front end of the shoes where used to encase and support his toes when dancing, which was going to be put to use very soon by the looks of it. For The music that had been lazily playing in the background of Y/N thoughts, had come to a halt which made everyone stop in their tracks, up until that point, people had been simply conversing with each other, while dining at the refreshment table that was set up among the few circular dining tables that where laid out along the far ends of the ballroom, leaving the centre as wide as possible for dancing. Y/N then heard the booming deep voice of his father break the awkward silence that started to linger in the air due the music being cut so abruptly. "Excuse me, everyone, but l would now like to invite you all to please join in the waltz section of the ball, so if you please each lady and man find a partner to take to the dance floor." Instantly the harsh dragging of wooden chairs against the marble floor could be heard, as people started to get up and walk onto the dance floor, including the duke and duchess. Instantly Y/N started to feel knots in his stomach and his forehead was starting to sting with sweat, the doublet started to become very hot and stuffy, as he too got up and walked towards his father just as he was told to, earlier that day. As Y/N meekly walked to his father, he was greeted with his father's hopeful and eager eyes, pleased he didn't have to call Y/N to come to him. Patrick firmly grasped Y/N's shoulder, his fingers dug tightly into his skin, sending a chill up Y/N's spine. It was quite clear that his father wanted everything to go to plan, for this party was not only for Y/N's coming of age, but also another outlet for Y/N to choose a bride, another way for his father to present princesses to him, so she could be his queen and bear his sons, so Patrick's legacy could live on.

That, Y/N well knew was of up most importance to not only his father, but his entire family. Up until this point Patrick was Cordiven's sole king and monarch, there was no one before him, he was the one who brought monarchy to Cordiven, his true home was Parthenia, a great ancient kingdom, with a dynasty that goes back centuries. Currently Y/N's eldest uncle, Damian, is the reining monarch of Parthenia, then after him was his own children, four in total. The king had six siblings in total, two girls, Marie and Francis, and four older brothers; Damian, Edward, Richard and Ciaran. Over the years it became clear to Y/N, that his father wanted a kingdom of his own and so Cordiven was created, to do with as his father pleased, and he clearly wanted his family to be the sole monarchs for a very long time, and that legacy was going to start with Y/N.

As Y/N stood there with his father's hand firmly pressed against his shoulder, he knew all of what that tight squeeze of the king's fingers meant. Choose a wife, be king, have an heir. That's what his father wanted out of him, though he would never say it as directly as that. "Now my son, the time has come for you, to choose one of theses girls to be your dancing partner," Patrick spoke aloud. Though his words seemed like they were directed only at Y/N, the sheer volume at which he spoke was a clear indication that this was for the guests more than about Y/N. Patrick then directed Y/N forward, where Y/N saw a line of the invited princesses from neighbouring and even greater kingdoms than Cordiven. How his father managed to convince them to come was beyond him, both his parents were very good speakers, they were confident, charismatic, as well as being very persuasive. A quality that was clearly used to it's fullest extent to get all these high born princesses here. The princesses stood shoulder to shoulder from each other, all had their eyes cast down, with blank, near sad expressions on their faces, their hands were clasped in front of them with their posture straight, the natural stance a lady of the court was expected to take, when not being spoken to or addressed.

This is probably as unenjoyable for them as it is for him, Y/N thought. Being introduced to a complete stranger with the possibility of him being your future husband was probably not the most calming of thoughts. " Go on" the stern voice of his father interrupted his thoughts, and brought him back to reality, where he stood in front of the beautifully clad princesses. "Oh... um yes father" Y/N said shakily, the nerves now starting to take a tole on his speech pattern. As he stepped out on to the ballroom floor, he felt as though he would faint, as the sickening feeling of everyone's eyes on him was starting to affect all facets of his being. As he was coming nearer and nearer to the princesses he could feel the burning eyes of all the people in the room, the noblemen and women, his mother, his father, his brothers, the castle staff and even the eyes of some of the guests pets were on him. All of them were thinking things about him, probably negative things, thinking how he was no future king, thinking how skinny and scrawny he is, thinking that there were a number of their own sons that would be 10 times the prince and future king than he is. They were probably plotting a rebellion right now, as he approached the princesses. Y/N stopped in his tracks, he was now not much longer than arm length away from them. He knew how this was supposed to go, he saw it enough times at other balls, the prince in question, was supposed to choose a partner to dance with in the waltz, and typically this partner would also become the prince's bride. Nothing was set in stone, as his mother kept reminding him, but usually it would send the non- verbal message to the guest that this is who the prince chooses as his bride. Fear and anguish rushed through Y/N's body at the thought, he began to walk down the line of the several princesses lined up. Making sure his posture was straight and proud, to remind all the guests that he held the cards here, when he really didn't.

He didn't love any of these princesses, he didn't even lust for them like most princes would, he previously caught a few stares that were being thrown their way by some of the male quests, while everyone was still chatting, they could have them for all he cared. Y/N was now sweating bullets and he could feel a slight jitter in his legs as he walked, he then began to wonder truly what the princesses thought of him in this moment, as he peered down at their stoic and melancholy faces, all their hairs here done up in these extravagant styles, having beautiful, intricate decorations weaved through, some having brightly coloured ribbons and lace tied into their hair. Obviously a plot to pull his focus towards them more, but Y/N knew that no matter how beautiful, pretty or kind any of theses princesses were, they weren't going to have an affect on him. He knew for quite some time now, since he was eight, when he met a goofy yet tender son of a stable master, that made him feel things before he could truly comprehend what those feelings were. But he had to pick someone, less he face the wrath of his father in front of the entire guest, embarrassing his whole family. He was beginning to panic as he was coming nearer to the end of the line of princess, and couldn't find anyone to be suitable as dance partner for him.

When a familiar hue of bright yellow caught the right side of his eye, while he was pretending to inspect the princesses as he walked. When he shifted his eye focus to the right, he blinked as his eyes adjusted to the sight before him. It was the bright yellow dress of the princess Isabell, a slight feeling of relief had diluted Y/N's panicked state, he had now found his partner. Upon noticing her, he instantly sprung into action, he approached with rapid footsteps. He made sure when we was face to face with her that his expression read as excited and pleased. The princess Isabell from the kingdom of cortania, was one of the few guests that was genuinely nice to Y/N, before he sat with the duke and duchess, he had been conversing with her beside the doors to the ballroom, she had approached him while he was helping his father usher guests into the ballroom. The conversation between them flowed simply and smoothly, he remembers how they had talked about a wide array of topics, before she had been pulled away by one on her maids to speak with her own mother, and that's when a few seconds after he was called over by the duke and duchess.

Isabell's face held a faint smile, neither really indicating any true distain or happiness. The mask, that was the name for an expression like that, an expression often inhabiting the faces of aristocrats and members of the monarchy, used in situations like these, parties, council meetings, festivals, any kind of social gathering is where it was used to it's fullest extent. No one would ever know what you were really feeling or thinking, when all your face held was a hint of smile, saying to everyone else that your mood was completely neutral. Y/N's mother was the one who told him about it, when he was around twelve and old enough to understand what it meant. By twelve she knew that Y/N was turning out to be nothing like previous men in his family, he was gentle, shy, composed, polite and emotional. Things that would lead him to be ripped apart in a place of politics, war and social hierarchies. So she was going to have to give him a different set of tools to lead with, instead of a sword and shield. "The mask?" Y/N asked, peering up at his mother, who sat by the fireplace, sowing a red hood for Roman to wear in the coming winter months. "Yes, all well brought up women conceal their emotions, it's very useful, especially when dealing with men" Grace stated, "why" Y/N questioned. Grace let out a brittle sigh as she set down her sowing on her lap. " if a man knows what a women is thinking it gives him power over her". " But doesn't it not feel good to hide your emotions, doesn't it hurt? A gentle smile spread across the queen's face at her son's words " I seem to have raised you too well." She laughed after she said that, with a melancholic expression on her face "yes sweetheart, your right, it's not good to bottle up your emotions, but for people like us there comes times where it's probably for the best if we remain quite, and choose our moments of emotion wisely". That confused Y/N ever further, and what did his mother mean by having power over a women " what did you mean about men having power over women" Y/N said, fiddling with the quill that he was using to right lines out for his next tutoring session, before his mother began to speak to him, it was just the two of them in the drawing room, which sent the message to Y/N that she was clearly speaking to him in confidence. She then replied to him, speaking through another light sigh " Well, for instance if a man knew how much a women loved him, he'll take her for granted and use it to his advantage".

Her voice was monotoned and yet harsh, as if she's not trying to make a big deal out of what she's saying, probably as an attempt to not cause Y/N distress. But it did "well all men aren't like that right" Y/N pleaded, his eyes were downcast as he spoke, not wanting to see his mother's reaction to the statement. He looked up at her as she began to speak again, this time her voice was much more singsongy and pleasant, " No, all men are not like that, but a vast majority are, and when they know someone is in love with them they'll say things to make you like and agree with them, lie to you because they themselves can't face the truth and completely disregard your feelings and love, and it will always be your fault, if something goes wrong". Near the end her voice, again became dry and sarcastic, her eyes were spaced out and looking off into the distance, as if she wasn't talking to Y/N anymore and rather herself. Y/N once again downcast his eyes, as he felt he touched a nerve with his mother. "But you're not like that" Y/N snapped his head back up, this time her eyes were on him, looking longingly at him. " you're special Y/N, you're compassionate, kind, sweet and truly funny" a beaming smile now spread across her face as she spoke to him. " You have true beauty my love, in here" and pointed a finger to her heart " Never lose it" she whispered. Immediately Y/N's spirit's began to sore, it wasn't very often his mother said things like this to him, so she truly must have meant it, it made him feel butterflies in his stomach, the good kind.

This memory was helping with the nerves Y/N felt right now, as he stood face to face with Isabelle, her mask in top form, he couldn't at all make out what she really thought of him in that moment, did she think he was annoying and pathetic for coming to her or was she pleased and satisfied that amongst all these other guests and princesses he chose her. Isabelle was truly a beautiful princess, her face was square shaped, with golden tan skin and brown hair that tumbled and spilled down her shoulders to her harms, her hair was half up, half down with a yellow ribbon securing her hair in place, she wore a grand laced corset with golden embroidery spread throughout. Her skirts were a mountain of ruffles and fabric in a gold yellow color with the trail of a white a petticoat peaking under. Atop her head was a red ruby tiara, in a the shape of floral vines and leaves. Any man would love the chance to be able to dance with her and make her their bride, but Y/N felt nothing while looking at her, he had no desire to share his live with her, he couldn't imagine them marrying, and he in no way desired to share his bed with her, not at all.

Before Y/N began to speak he made sure his own mask was in the right position, as all eyes would be on him while he asked the princess to dance with him. In his head he constantly repeated phrases over and over again, "Don't stutter, don't stutter, keep talking, make sure your loud and confident when talking to her, don't be weak". Y/N then bowed slowly and extended his right arm to Isabelle, she gracefully lowered her eyes to the hand, while her mouth slightly parted into a smile. " Princess Isabelle, it would give me great pleasure if you would please do me the honours of joining me in the Vienna blood waltz" Y/N stated. Y/N looked up at the princess her mouth now closing as her smile grew wider, with her eyes peeking up in happiness, Y/N thought she must be a very good actress if her emotions right now, were fake. " The pleasure is all mine, dear prince" Isabelle said, taking Y/N's right hand into her left. She was then taken away from the line of princesses and then lead to the centre of the ballroom by Y/N , doing just as his father had instructed him to do. As they were walking the room was dead silent, Y/N felt all eyes on the two of them, however he made sure to only look at Isabelle, he needed to come off as though he really liked her, to appease both his guests and father. He noticed that the princess was quite short, even for him, it probably looked quite awkward to the guests to have two quite small monarchs leading the grand waltz of the evening.

Y/N then stopped in the centre as he turned Isabelle across the crowd with his arm, her dress swishing by them as she met Y/N in the centre. They both then got into position, Y/N's fear grew stronger as he put his left hand on to Isabelle's waist placing it as gently and respectfully as possible. Touching a women, an action which shook Y/N to his core with discomfort, he then placed his hand into hers, readying himself for the Vienna blood waltz to play, his breath shallow as he breathed out. The king was then signalling the conductor to commence the music piece into action. With that Y/N heard the familiar swell of the orchestra music begin to fill the ballroom once more, Y/N tried his best to take the lead and be a " Man", gently guiding Isabelle through the dance, turning her around and around, occasionally dipping her down and back up, showing her off to the guests. The fabric of her dress made for an enchanting sight, it spun and floated around her as if she were part cloud. As the dance went on, other people then started to break away from the crowd and join the prince and princess, very soon the entirety of the dance floor was filled with couples spinning around in a dream- like haze.

The golden hue of light that poured from the great chandelier and accompanying torches gave the ballroom an evening glow to it , which both at the same time was calming and intense. The world around Y/N became hard to make out, due the rate at which Isabelle and he were dancing at, in his panicked state we was fast and quick with his movements. Which at times made him feel dizzy, but Isabelle didn't seem affected at all by this, in fact it seemed as though she was enjoying herself, her mask starting to falter as her smile grew bigger and she seemed to revel in every graceful and extravagant stance they took together. " You're a beautiful dancer your highness" Isabelle mentioned. This surprised Y/N, she seemed to be speaking quite genuinely, even though their was now dozens of people dancing quite close beside them it didn't seem like she saying this play to them, her voice was gentle and held a spring of joy to it, which didn't seem put on or fake, "perhaps she truly does like me" Y/N thought. "Thank you" Y/N replied, it came out awkward and almost stand offish, but he truly meant it, he wanted to so desperately look around at the other guests to see who was all watching and around him, but he didn't want to be rude so he kept his eyes on Isabelle, though he couldn't help but feel there was one stare on him that was different from the rest. 

By now everyone was distracted by either conversing, eating or dancing, so it felt odd that there would still be someone's gaze completely focused of him. He decided, that when he next turned he would take a sharp glance to see who it was, to make it look natural. As he did so, coming out of a dip with Isabelle, he glanced and say a man staring directly at him, at first he tried to convince himself that it might be someone or something beside him, but he was definitely looking at him. His eyes moved with Y/N, syncing in which ever direction he went, he was an older looking man at least in his mid-fifties, his blue milky eyes were stern and focused, as he looked at Y/N, as if he were somehow being accessed, for what he didn't know. The man's face was thin and oval shaped, with wrinkled lines on his forehead and crows feet on his eyes, his grey beard and moustache hid almost the entire bottom half of his face as well as his mouth, which kept Y/N from truly seeing his mouth's shape, he had tousled light silver shoulder length hair, looking slightly white due to how it was caught in the light, the robes he wore looked very peculiar to Y/N, they were all in different shades of red accompanied by threads of golden sown to the ends of the fabric, on his chest there seemed to be what looked like a sigil, but one Y/N had never seen before. It was all in gold against the red fabric, with a hare all surrounded by a circle of flames looking like the sun or a starburst. The manis eyebrows were thick and dark as they were pointing towards him, which made Y/N feel a little intimidated. There was something very off about this man, Y/N didn't really know what, he made him feel strange, his stomach was beginning to do somersaults again, why was he looking at him so intently.

Y/N tried to forget about the man, as he went back to focus on the dance with Isabelle, he then dared himself to be bold just for a second, the music was coming to it's climax, as he saw the musicians begin to play and an increasingly faster pace, preparing for the crescendo of the finale. " we should finish this with a bang" he mischievously said to Isabelle, surprising himself at how assured and confident he sounded. Isabelle began to smirk back at him " well what did you have in mind" she playfully responded. " Just follow my lead" he said through an excited smile. At those words Y/N raised Isabelle's hand that was clasped with his own, guiding it to indicate she needed to twirl around, and she did, her near luminous yellow skirts spun and shredded through the crowd of people they were surrounded by. Y/N repeatedly spun Isabelle's arm around to help add more force to her twirls, they were moving towards the centre of the ballroom again, which was now made available for them as everyone realised what they were doing, the music had come to its ending crescendo as Isabelle did one last spin until the stopped with a bang, assuming their first positions at the beginning of the waltz. Their chest and shoulders rising rapidly from breathlessness, as the crowded guests clapped and cheered for them, still gazing at each other as if they were a real couple, but even after a wonderful waltz Y/N still felt nothing for this girl, he knew exactly who his heart belonged to, though he could never dare say, less he be exiled from his own kingdom.

The evening had went on smoothly, with his father giving him hardy pat on the back, and his mother saying how wonderful the two of them looked together. Slowly evening started to fade into night, and now it had come to the section of ball were guests were invited to show there skills on the dance floor, many nobles and monarchs, mostly women, have been well-trained in the art of dance so it was almost a type of competition to see who could impress the guests more, and this made Y/N very excited, now that he was of age and this was his birthday ball he would be able to sole dance as well. It excited to think that he could at least in some way show his subjects and the royal court that there was at least something that he was rather good at. There already been wonderful performers put on the dance floor, there was sir Frederick from tres, who showed of his amazing leaping and jumping skills, there was the princess Estella who did a beautiful variation, with lovely pointed feet and extended lines. Some of the other princesses that were present had also performed, some of which Y/N had rejected to dance with which, was rather awkward when they started performing right in front of him and his family, his mother and farther were sitting on their thrones at the head of the ballroom while Y/N and his brothers sat on stools on either side of them. Roman and Niel to his mother's side, while Y/N sat beside his father.

Y/N was starting to feel regret, as his turn to dance was drawing nearer and nearer, he began to fidget with his fingers with anxiety and his doublet started to become very hot, he be performing all by himself out there, for people to ridicule and make fun of him even further. He had practiced with his tutor, Madame Adriana for months leading up to his birthday. It was his mother's idea to get him to participate in the solo dancing performances, her excuse was that it was his party and it would be foolish for him to not dance at his own party. She added that it would be an opportune time for him to show of all the skills he had gained from the many years of lessons. With this, he knew that his mother was pressuring Madame Adriana to be even harsher with him, as well as choosing what variation to perform, originally he was going to perform the sapphire fairy variation, but at the mere mention of the words he was given a tongue lashing by the Madame, with all the five feet of her, she criticised why he would choose such a safe and easy variation, and she knew that it was only chosen out of nerves. So instead she gave him an old and traditional variation dance, performed by many princesses on the day of their coming of age, the Variation D'Aurore. In truth he has always wanted to dance it, but it was normally danced by women, due to it's demands in flexibility and en pointe foot work, so he never thought it possible for him to dance something like that, especially with the shameful eye of his father watching every feminine bend or kick. In the morning his mother insisted that he run through it with the actual royal orchestra, so he could truly feel how it would be like, but no amount of preparation would ready his heart and mind for the crowds of people who would be there, ready to ponce with any mistake or error he made.

Once he left the deep depths of his mind he realised he was up next, as the final act of the dancing to put a grand closure to the ball, the now familiar feeling of his twisted stomach returned, as well as a new found fear for his guests. Currently the maids of honour and pages were dancing, the king and Queen had allowed them to dance and participate this year per Y/N's request, he noticed that many of the castle staff were quite talented in their own right, and it seemed that the guests thought so as well. Many of their faces held smiles behind feathered fans and curled moustaches, obviously impressed by the skill held by mere maids of honour and pages. The pages and maids all danced in a chorus with each other with high spirits and springs in their steps. Y/N then recognised the part of the orchestral music signifying the end, and like that they finished, the music stopped and no more than a second later a roar of applause erupted from the crowd. Once the applause died down, he felt at his side, his father rise and once again echoed out into the standing crowd. " Now ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to introduce our final performances tonight given by the guest of honour himself, my son Y/N, performing the Variation D'Aurore". Instantly a swarm of light whispers attacked Y/N's ears, obviously the crowd was a little shocked at the mention that he would be performing one of the most challenging Variations known to the nobility.

Instantly Y/N heard his music begin to play, which immediately made him stand up and get into position, and then with the prestigious sound of the violin beginning to play, he padded his way to the centre of the dance floor and crowd, walking on the tips of his pointe shoes, almost soaring along. Making sure his arms were in proper place and his face held a beaming smile, to fool everyone. Once he settled and posed, there was a brief silence, before the conductor made sure Y/N was ready, this was to make sure Y/N danced in sync to the music, seeming as though his own movements where creating the sound instead of the instruments. As the music played Y/N began with a series pique arabesques, with each one addressing a different "compass point". While at the same time he goes down into a resting position of fourth position croisé facing southeast while his torsos turned to the corner opposite from his legs, while extending his arms out in a floating motion, looking almost like wings.

He repeated this several times across the marble dance floor, before going into the second sequence of the variation, travelling over to the far end of the ballroom where he proceeded in executing fourteen low ronds de jambe travelling diagonally towards the opposite side of the room. All the while trying to hold a beaming smile on his face, pretending to be blissful and happy at his birthday celebration. While hopping, we caught notice of the strange old man gazing again, this time Y/N could better see him, the man wore a thick jewelled gold necklace around his next, and had a matching red hat for his heavy robes. He now seemed a lot more intrigued by Y/N now, nothing on his face read that he felt any different, except Y/N could tell there was something hidden behind his eyes, they now looked like the sort you would find on an animal stalking there prey, intense and focused. Y/N did not like this man, he tried to keep his face happy, but it was hard with all theses stares. Once he did his fourteenth hop, at the other side of the ballroom, he continues with the third sequence in Fifth position. He proceeds to bend forwards and with an upward sweep of his arms hops backward in changememt en pointe, once again in a diagonal line. To a flourish in the music, Y/N finishes with a pirouette ending in fourth position. After three sets of these backward hops/pirouette, he travels forward on the diagonal, executing ballonnés à terre to finish the musical phrase. Next Y/N bourrées towards all four corners of the crowded circle that surrounded him, acknowledging each group of guests he neared with a bow of his head. While being an assertive and bold king was important, he also needed to be gentlemanly and polite, when in the company of other nobles. Though he was intensely nervous, the music and dancing was helping to calm him down and keep him in a good headspace. How he wished Taehyung could see how well he was doing among these strangers, earlier that morning he lamented to Tae how much it frustrated him that he couldn't be there, he would have felt a lot better if someone he got along with was there, but his father forbid it.

Once finished acknowledging the guests, hoping to charm them in some way. He comes to the final sequence where he begins to inscribe a large spiral on the dance floor with a series of low jeté turns, followed by chaîné turns on demi-pointe, seeming to gather and wrap up all the various compass points in a burst of energy and motion. However before the chaine turns he goes around in a spiral skimming across the entirety of the crowd, a second time feeling a sudden boost in his confidence and spirit. During this the music of the orchestra became much more fast paced mimicking Y/N, until both he and the music all at once came at a stop with Y/N ending in a final pose en pointe. Y/N senses were fuzzy and blurred, it took him a moment to realise that the guests had responded with a hysterical round of applause, with the occasional "bravo" or high whistle being shot out from the sea of people. His chest and shoulders were rising and falling vigorously, while his doublet was now completely soaked with sweat, he was genuinely taken aback by how well the guests had responded to his performance, he expected an awkward air to come right after the variation, due to the dance's feminine nature. He wanted to show his appreciation so he made two great bows to both the left and right sides of the ballroom thanking the guests, we spied the duke and duchess clapping along with everyone else, it was in a rather aggressive manner, he could almost feel, the aching sting the were subjecting their hands to.

He then scurried off to his parents behind him, who when he approached, rinsed from their thrones and embraced him first his mother who kissed him on the forehead, then his father who tightly hugged him him, with a hard pat on the back, it was a new and strange feeling to have his seem so openly proud of him, perhaps, he thought, it was because he did not do many things that made them proud of him. The rest of the evening was filled with compliments and homages from nobles, merchants and even regular castle staff, along with bidding goodbye to all of the guests and court members, leaving in their grand jewelled carriages and coaches around three in the morning. The party was a success as far as the king was concerned, Y/N showed "interest" in a princess and pleased the guests thus appeasing any worries. As for Y/ N, though the party was definitely not as bad as expected, he knew that it was only all for his father steering him in the direction of choosing a bride and ultimately having an hire. Legacy, is what Patrick craved more than anything for his family, he wanted his ancestors to rule over Cordiven for many decades to come, so he needed an hire to begin the legacy of the Cordiven monarchy, and that started with Y/N.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will definetly be grammar mistakes in this because it’s so long, so it would be really helpful if you could spot any, it really help me out when I go back and edit again.


	4. The Stable Boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter we’re we finally meet Taehyung, though this is primarily a jungkook/reader fic, Taehyung and Y/N relationship will also play a big role in this story, and Y/N’s over development throughout the story.

He reminded himself of this fact as he walked into the dining hall with Roman and Brietta. Off in the distance he saw his father seated at the head of the table while his mother sat at the kings right. Currently, Daniel the cup- bearer, was pouring his father wine, while he read the statistics and tax agreements sent from the village, he jaw was moving steadily, chewing up bread, with a bowl of porridge sat in front of him still steaming. His crown was not on his head today, as nothing of any importance or business was to be dealt with or presented to him today, so there was no need, this was somewhat like the kings day of. Roman and Brietta broke away from Y/N, to sit next to the Queen, like every other morning, they had situated seats when the sat at in the dining hall, his father at the head, mother on the left, while Roman sat next to his mother and Y/N and Niel sat on the left side of their father. As Y/N approached his played with the end of his blue cape nerves creeping into his stomach as he was very obviously late. Once his shadow casted over his father, Y/N say his father's head flick up and the expression on his father's face turned pleasant before he spoke "ah Y/N, you've decided to grace us with your presence" Patrick said, the Queen now looking up as well. " good morning father, mother" Y/N whispered, pulling out the wood carved chair to sit on his father's left.

"I distinctly remember telling Stefan for you to come directly to me as soon as you were up" the king said, peering over the top of his spectacles, used for reading. " um, yes well Johanna told me that Catherine had made me a treat so I just wanted to see what it was" Y/N responded, trying to sound to pleasant keep the mood peace. " oh did she, gosh that was awfully nice of her" the Queen tuned in, Y/N turned his gaze to his mother " Yes, I think she might of done it for my birthday" Y/N said. The king seemed appeased with this response, after all he couldn't find fault in someone going out of their way to do something for his son. But then something hit the king " so where is Niel" the king then questioned " here I am trying to have a nice breakfast with my family, something I seldom have time for, and it seems that none of you have the respect or sense to show up!" He banged his fist on the table that time, making not only Y/N but the servants around them jump, namely the queens ladies in waiting.

As if on command Neil came into the dining all, with a not to pleased look on his face. " where have you been" Patrick said, Neil gave a glare to Y/N before he said, " I was in the kitchens", Neil said flatly. The pieces then all came together in Patrick's mind, he then gave a displeased look to Y/N, but decided to let it go, "Come, sit" the king said sternly. The royal family were then served their breakfast with a snap of kings fingers, at once the servants came with dishes of eggs, ham and toasted bread for the family, Catherine once again outdid herself, the ham looked succulent and juicy, while the bread was evenly toasted and crispy with the creamy butter melting over the sides. As time passed while they ate there was a clear awkward silence, that clearly no one wanted to address, his mother was busy with feeding Roman, while Neil was busy ravaging his breakfast and he didn't dare look at his father. Over the past few weeks, Y/N's relationship with his father had become quite strained, his father was beginning to put immense pressure on him as future king, like learning the names and cultures of each surrounding kingdom, going to his bow and arrow practice everyday and worst of all, looking for a bride.

He started to space out, looking deep at the jewelled tableware, until he heard the familiar sound of sheer, thin metal clanking together, he lifted his head in the direction of the noise and saw sir Walter, captain of the royal guard, hastily approaching the royal family. Sir Walter was a big, beefy man, with thick wild brown hair and an even thicker untamed beard, his face most of the time was held very straight and serious except for when in the presence of the king, were his eyes instantly became a lot softer and almost scared in a way, that's how his eyes were now. He approached the king and quickly spoke with his gruff and deep voice " Your highness, the horses have been saddled up and are equipped with everything you and the prince will need, we're ready for you when ever you want to go"Walter said matter of factly. Y/N froze, no, he couldn't mean him, "no not a hunting party, you can't be serious" Y/N said into himself, he suddenly hoped he would choke on a piece of fat from the ham, knocking him unconscious, thus preventing him from going on a grating hunting trip through the forest.

" thank you Walter we will join you in a few minutes" the king pleasantly responded. When sir Walter walked away from them and was out of site. Y/N spoke out and said " I hope he was talking about Neil", " oh here we go" Neil said, the King simply chuckled forcefully, not wanting take Y/N seriously " No Y/N, he was talking about you" the king's voice patronising and dry. Y/N still didn't want to cause any friction or make his father angry, so he treaded lightly with his response, " But I was actually planning on –" "On going to see Taehyung" his father interrupted. Y/N at first refrained from continuing on, knowing taking his father didn't care what we wanted to do. Y/N looked down, not wanting to see the displeased look on his father face for it would only make him feel worse. "you haven't let me visit him in two weeks" Y/N pleaded, his father made it very clear that after didn't like him going down to the stables and visiting Taehyung, he probably thought it was a waste of prince's time. " oh really because I heard from one of my men's squires that about three days ago, he saw a blue hooded figure sneaking out the courtyard doors about your height, making there way down to the stables" Y/N now looked up at his father, a feeling of dread had washed over Y/N and his palms became very sweaty. " Y/N, you know how I feel about you going done there, if you're really that lonely then why don't you go talk to the squires or knights, at training , where you should be!" Patrick's voice seemed to boom all around the dining hall and bounce of the walls. Y/N just as sharply replied " I don't want to talk to all the stupid squires or arrogant knights, I get along fine with Taehyung, besides I didn't go down to the stables anyway, I thought how upset you would be with me so I turned back".

The king now looked out of temper, his jaw and chin were stuck out, while Y/N could see his father's teeth clenched together, this was never a good sign. " I have been more than reasonable with you, boy,I have let you go on for years without proper combat or war training, I have instead let you take useless dancing and singing lessons, and I have let you go this long without being betrothed!". The kings voice was deep and threatening, yet soft, which was chilling Y/N to the bone, the last sentence was what was really went under the belt for Y/N. The fact that his own father has stated this out loud for all the servants to hear, and to latter gossip about, made him clench his fists together and drive his feet hard onto the ground. " And I told you so many times that I don't care about all that stuff" Y/N argued. " Could the two of you please stop!" The Queen spoke up, she was becoming most upset with how p her own husband and son were fighting in front of everyone. " I don't know why your upset you're just as much at fault as he is!" The king raged, " What!" Countered the Queen, his mother's beastly side was beginning to show, the queens possessed a temper just as bad as the king, if provoked like now. " come on now Grace, you coddle him, you always do, you were the one who insisted that he take singing and dancing lessons when he needed to be put to training, learning what it is to be a man" the King said.

There it is, that stupid comment that made Y/N's blood boil and what to fling his plate to the walls. " it's time that you grow up, and take responsibility!" the king turned to Y/N again, this time pointing his finger directly at him, and his voice became breathy and strained, trying to keep his voice down this time. " you are a prince, and future king of this kingdom, don't you understand what that means," a lump was beginning to form in Y/N's throat as his neck muscles began to tighten with distress and frustration, his father's were were dripping with distain and disgust, they flat out felt nasty and aggressive. " I will not let you put all that I have worked for, and built for our family down the drain. You live in this great castle, you have servants waiting on you hand and foot, and yet you show very little examples of being deserving of it. Y/N you need to be married and you need to have an heir". Y/N was now using all his strength to keep back his tears, just one more push and he would break. The Queen then set her hand down onto her husband's to rein him in, " Sweetheart it's just that your father and I have been thinking that we have somehow failed as parents, you don't seem to be rising to the task of being heir to the throne or a prince, and maybe that's our fault. That was it, the floodgates were now open and he broke, "failed as parents" his mother said, as if he was some kind of building not constructed right, that his entire existence was wrong. Who he was now, was not who his parents wanted, he then sprung up from his chair and began to exit the table. " well maybe it's that I don't wanna be a prince, anymore!" he then walked away from the tables towards the wooden doors. " Don't you dare walk away from me –" " Patrick, I think that's enough" Grace said, look off, straight ahead, tired off all this noise so early in the morning.

The rest of the day Y/N had remained in his chambers not wanting anyone to come in and stay away. That is until Catherine came and gently knocked on his door telling him that the cookies here ready and waiting for him. Once he was sure she was gone, he opened the door to see another basket of cookies perfectly in tact, and faraway from any thieving rats to get. This gave him enough comfort to escape into the the forest to see Taehyung today, he hadn't seen or talked to him in what felt like months. He missed his gentle, deep voice and his high spirited antics, so he settled it, he was going to see Taehyung and didn't care what his father said. So around, one o'clock he sneaked out into the courtyard, making sure he wasn't going to get caught by going good and early before everyone working would come back after they're lunch break. He exited once again through the garden by crawling through the small opening through the hedged bushes he made years ago, where he then set out into the forest. Cordiven's palace was surrounded by a great open forest, which sprinkled its way down to the village. The palace horses were located about so where in the middle, edging slightly more towards the village. The forest ground felt slightly cold and wet under Y/N's booted feet from this mornings rain.

Though by now the sun was high in the sky, while Y/N was grateful that the trees were providing him with some shade. He clung to the basket of cookies in his left hand, swinging it back and forth as he walked and hummed to himself making his was down to the stables, his navy blue hood was draped over his head, for even though he was alone he was still not sure if he wouldn't get caught, especially because his father had still decided to take the hunting trip without him. Though that was way over on the other side of the forest where most of the animals and wildlife inhabited, all the animals had been driven out of this side of the forest, as to make a much easier trip back and fourth to the stables. Y/N was snapped out of his thoughts by the sounds of birds chirping above him, he looked up to see to bluebirds flying from tree to tree, probably gathering supplies to help feather their nest. The sight of the little blue birds somehow saddened Y/N, for even though he might not want to be betrothed to some random princess he's never met. He did still want to fall in love, liking someone wasn't the problem like his parents thought, but who he liked, was where the issue lied.

With this intense swelling starting to buildup in his heart, he thought the only way to give it relief was to sing, he hadn't sang in so long, for there was very little that made him want to sing these past couple of weeks. He started off by humming and then began to let his words out " I wonder, I wonder, I wonder why each little bird has a someone". Y/N met Taehyung way back when he was eight, on a hot spring day when he was to be introduced to his new palomino fole that we would learn to ride horseback on. " To sing to sweet things to, A gay little love melody?". His father took him down to the stables to get a good look at him, he was so very excited. Once there, he was introduced to the stable master and his son, who was twelve at the time. " I wonder, I wonder, I wonder if my heart keeps singing will my song go winging". With that first glance Y/N was enraptured, Taehyung was tall, yet goofy, he was kind, smart and best of all, he did not make fun of or reticule him, like all the other sqiure boys had, Taehyung was special. " To someone who'll find me". Y/N noticed the tops of the stable's roofs up ahead, his face started to beam even more. He slowly approached and leaned against a nearby tree to somewhat hide himself. "And bring back a love song...." He looked around the stables and workers to see if he could spot Tae anywhere, he almost though he wasn't there, until he caught the bright mane of his horse Copper, being brushed by a lightly tanned, chestnut haired stable boy. "...To me". The stables where made up of a long column of separate stalls in a row- style. It had a study brown roof and torches lit with fire set in between each box stall, it seemed today that the horses were being groomed and cleaned as most of them were let out and being washed and brushed. Y/N crept down from the lifted ground that separated the forest and the village, and carefully shuffled towards Taehyung and Copper. On his way he ducked behind a few water barrels and posts, and even some horses and their grooms, shushing them as he walked past. Taehyung and Copper were situated at the the very end of the stables with Tae's back to him, too busy in brushing Copper's mane to suspect anything.

Y/N came to the last pillar nearest to Tae and ducked down behind a barrel that laid against the wooden post. He got ahold of a small abandoned wooden brush, and threw directly at Taehyung's back, before ducking down once more and clinging to the basket of cookies. He heard the brush impact with tae's waistcoat, and his baritone voice say " what the...". When Y/N was sure that Taehyung was looking in his direction, searching for the source of the brush, Y/N sprang up and yelled at the top of his voice " Ahhhhhh!", this resulted in Tae almost jumping out of his skin , stumbling back and hitting Copper. That, and Y/N yelling caused Copper to become startled and neigh, standing on his hind legs. Y/N exploded with laughter, while Tae and Copper both, were trying to recover from the near death experience. " Are you trying to kill me?" Tae nervously laughed along with Y/N, " well, I do like to make an entrance" Y/N teased, smirking at Taehyung. He walked over to copper and petted him gently on the muzzle, " I'm sorry boy, I wasn't meant to scare you" Y/N mummed, " he's not a dog" Taehyung interjected. " yes, I'm sure if he was, you would be all over him" Y/N said, he switched his gaze from Copper to Taehyung, and he felt the wind go out of him, Taehyung stood with his arms folded giving Y/N a cheeky smirk, the sun perfectly falling on his face and putting a sparkle in his eye.

Taehyung was a very handsome young man, in fact probably the most handsome in the village, the kingdom perhaps. His face was heart shaped, with the width from his forehead tapering going down towards his chin. His lips, were pillowy and soft looking, he possessed a slightly fuller top lip, with a rounded Cupid's bow. His dark brown hair covered his forehead, long enough to be touching his ears, there were times when he would tie a piece of material around his forehead to keep his hair out of his face on the hot summer days, while working at the stables. A sight that usually made Y/N feel light and dizzy, however Taehyung's best feature was most definitely his eyes, giant warm brown orbs that can stare intensely, eyes in which you can easily drown into. Eyes that cut like a knife and at the same time, can look through a soul, framed through dark long eyelashes and dual lidded eyes, the left being double and his right being mono. He was wearing his usual attire, a plain white cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, underneath a tattered old green waist coat. With tight pale brown breeches and his muddy boots that went up to his shins, adorning his lower half.

Y/N quickly tried to recover from Taehyung's beauty and added, " So, did you miss me." He said teasingly, mimicking the smirk Tae held on his face in that moment. " well I wouldn't really go as far as that" Tae replied, he felt a light blow go to his shoulder, as Y/N shoved him, for not giving him what he wanted to hear. Y/N's fake glare and smirk still remained as he lifted up his arm to show the basket of chocolate chip delights, " Then I guess you don't want one of these" he chastised. " Y/N, you're really trying to fatten me up aren't you" Tae said, Y/N face changed to a soft and sympathetic one, " I just wanna make sure your all able to eat" Y/N said. About a year ago, Taehyung's father, Hyunjun, died, he was the former stable master and had worked for Y/N's family for years. He fell sick,Y/N had gotten the royal doctor to look at him, where they found out that it was tuberculosis, and he was too far gone by that point to be saved. This left Taehyung and his family having to watch their father and husband die out and they could do nothing to stop it. Not only was the loss of Hyunjun, emotionally crushing, but this also left the Kim family without their main source of income. Now, Taehyung has been working double and triple shifts to keep his mother, brother and sister from starving and living on the streets. Yet, it's still not a lot on the salary of a mere stable boy, he's hoping that he will be able to become the new stable-master, taking his father's place. But the king still thinks he's still too inexperienced, yet another thing that Y/N and his father disagree.

" You've already given me more than enough" Tae said, "No, I haven't, besides I can always ask Catherine to make me more" Y/N argued. He put his arm out for Taehyung to take the basket, which he reluctantly accepted, not before Y/N took one cookie out and broke it in half, giving one piece to himself and the other to Copper. Y/N started to pet Copper on the muzzle again, while picking at the leather rein from his saddle. " we still have plenty of leftovers from your party, why you gave us all that food I'll never know" Taehyung force laughed, " Tae...." Y/N spoke, Tae took his attention from the basket to look at Y/N, who was now leaning his head against Copper. "He would be really proud of what you are doing for your family" Y/N whispered. Tae looked down, with melancholy written all over his face " Yeah, I know". They stood an looked at each other for awhile, a comfortable silence forming around them, " I just want to keep my family safe" Taehyung added, he said this through a sigh, while looking up at Y/N with a flat smile spread across his face. " I know", Y/N gave him a humble and reassuring nod, eyes filled with such admiration for this man who would do anything it takes to protect his family, if only he was more like that. " So..." Taehyung said , walking over to Copper's stall to get a bucket of water, filled with soap and scents of lavender, " how did your birthday party go". " oh, well, you know ..." Y/N trailed off, " it actually wasn't that bad, not terrible at least" he said. " good, see I told you didn't have anything to worry about." Tae teased, he began to wash Copper down, with a cloth dipped in the froth of bubbles in the bucket. He made big, hard circular motions around Copper's back and abdomen, removing all traces of any caked on dirt or grime in Copper's coat. "Tae, I'm still really sorry you weren't able to go" Y/N sighed, leading against one of the posts of the stables. Tae looked up at him, as he was now crouching to get at Copper's legs and stomach, " Y/N a stable boy doesn't belong at a royal ball" Taehyung explained. "But you're so much more than a stableboy" Y/N said into himself, sadden that Tae didn't hold himself to his or other nobles importance. " I ended up doing the Variation D'Aurore" Y/N said briskly, looking away from Taehyung as to not see his reaction. " oh really, how did that go" Tae enquired, "Great, surprisingly..." it had genuinely taken Y/N aback by how well the party quests responded to his dancing, the cheers and claps they let out were like none Y/N had ever received before. ".... People seemed to really like it" he added.

" Well they should, it's a damn hard variation, even for you" Tae chuckled, " I'm surprised you didn't whip out any off your killer fouettés though" He teased. Y/N laughed " No, by that point by muscles were literally disintegrating from the waltz and variation." "How many can you do again?" Taehyung asked, fouetté turns where what Y/N loved to do best in dancing, even though there where incredibly hard to do in a row, they were absolutely exilherating to perform. " Uhh, about twenty" Y/N said, as Taehyung was now pouring the contents of the bucket all over Copper, to rinse him off. " I been trying to work my way up to the famous 32" Y/N said casually, a clear way of trying to impress Taehyung. Tae now looked up at him, from wiping his wet hands on his breaches, which for some reason the sight was exciting Y/N, his heart began to pick up speed. " 32, god near damn impossible, I can barely do 16, never mind 32", Tae said, walking over to Copper's stall again, his boots scraping and buckling against the cobblestone ground. He came back with an old rag cloth, to dry Copper with, he went to work making vigorous strokes along Copper's back and neck. " who even started that whole thing anyway?" Tae questioned, knowing Y/N would know the answer, with his expansive knowledge on ballet and it's origins, over his years of training.

" Well, Madame Adriana said that it came from a women named Odile, there isn't much known about her apparently" Y/N said, voice calm and focused, Tae knew that this meant Y/N was going to tell him a story and he loved Y/N's storytelling, he went on. "But the story goes that the prince of the country was having a ball where he would choose his bride, and she showed up unexpectedly with this other random, weird looking man" Tae already was feeling himself get lost in Y/N words, Y/N was always very good at telling stories, he remembers when they were little, how Y/N would always visit with his big storybook and read to Tae and some other village children as well, leaving them all spellbound for many an hour after. Y/N continued " The prince, couldn't take his eyes off her the whole night and only danced with her, to show her skill and to impress all the court, she did 32 fouetté turns on pointe, absolutely mesmerising not only the prince but the entire audience who was there." Y/N spaced out as he talked, and imagined just how amazing that must have looked, what a feet to accomplish, no wonder the prince was infatuated with her. " So what happed after that" Tae asked, completely enthralled by the story, he was done with drying Copper, now leading his arm against him, with his legs crossed over. "I don't know, Madame Adriana didn't know either, though she said that some say that the prince died the same night of the ball, that he was found at the bottom of a mysterious lake in the woods along with another person, a woman." Y/N explained. " Well that's rather depressing" Taehyung remarked, " usually your stories end a lot happier", he was now guiding Copper back by the reins to his stall, the hollow sound of his hoofs hitting the stone ground beneath him, as he tiredly got back into the small stall box he calls home. " I promise I'll take you out riding tomorrow, boy" Y/N cooed, as he petted Copper's mussel again, through the top half of the stall door, while Tae closed the old rusted door latch to put Copper in for the rest of the day. 

Y/N gave a quick peck on the horses mussel, which received a ruff exhale through the nostrils from Copper, Y/N and Tae laughed at the horses stubbornness. " I should be heading back, someone will probably notice that I'm not sulking in my chambers, as per" Y/N commented dryly, Tae let out a light chuckle, he walked along side Y/N to the edge of the forest to bid him goodbye. "Thanks again for the cookies, your really starting to spoil me ya know" Tae pointed out, " your more than welcome, Tae" Y/N softy smiled. He started to get that tight feeling in his stomach again looking up at Taehyung's gorgeous face, " I wonder, if he has even the slightest idea of how breathtaking he is" Y/N asked himself, he saw Taehyung's big brown eyes flick to his collar bone, as if he noticed something. Tae let out a hum through his lips " mhhh, wait..." he trailed off, setting the basket down at his booted feet, while his big hands came towards Y/N, Tae started to untie the near lose strings of his cloak, and begun to tie them tightly back together. A shock vibrated throughout Y/N's body at the contact, even more so that Tae stepped forward a bit, hovering over him, Tae was a good bit taller than Y/N, he always was. Y/N's eyes lined up somewhere along Taehyung's mouth and chin, but currently he was trying to look anywhere else. " You never know how to tie this right" Tae chuckled, Y/N tried to look straight past Taehyung's shoulder, in an attempt to seem unfazed by this action. But he very much was, Taehyung's careful, tender hands were on him, while his chest was right in front of him, almost inviting him in. He started feeling the immense pressure to just lead his face into Taehyung's warm chest, he could feel the heat radiating off it, how he wanted to just fall into his body and sleep against the cozy space forever. After Tae secured the strings, he flattened and smoothed the cloak out over Y/N shoulders, Y/N heart was in his mouth, he was left speechless he didn't know what to do. He was then further taken aback by Taehyung pulling his hood up over his head and setting it perfecting atop his head, running both of his hands down the side. He then felt comfortable enough to look up at Taehyung's face and see his square shaped smile looking back at him, "Thank you" Y/N murmured. His heart was beating rapidly against his chest as Taehyung released him, he began to walk back up the path to the castle, he turned to look back at Taehyung " bye, I'll see you tomorrow" Y/N beamed, "I'll have Copper ready for you early in the morning, don't be late!" Tae emphasised. Y/N laughed " I won't" he shouted as he walked off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, any grammar or writing tips you have would be really helpful, thanks for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, let me know if you find any typos, because I am horrible at spotting that kind of stuff in my own work.


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